Definition of a transition surface with the purpose of integration between a laser scanner 3D model and a low resolution DTM

Thanks to quickly spreading technologies like laser scanning, which are becoming a quite common means of data acquisition for architectural objects or cultural heritage sites (but not only!), integration between datasets of different origin and resolution is still an open problem. This paper describes an approach whose goal is to define a surface which models a proper transition between a high resolution, laser-scanner-acquired model and a low resolution digital terrain model (DTM), by means of some "extra" information around the high resolution object as sort of "collar". This information is generally present in laser scanner models and instead of pruning it during point cloud editing, we use it for our modelling purposes. We present a (so far) deterministic approach, some initial results and discuss still unresolved issues and future improvements.